Find object parameters

Chapter 5 Objects

Find object parameters

You can define very precise parameters in the Find Objects dialog box:

The name and location of PowerDesigner objects.
Advanced find criteria on the properties of PowerDesigner objects.
The creation or modification date of PowerDesigner objects.

Name and Location parameters

The following parameters are available on this tab

Parameter	Description
Look in	Specifies the scope of the search. You can select the entire workspace, a folder, a model, or a package within a model. You may need to navigate up or down the dynamic list in order to make all possibilities available.
Model type	Specifies the type of PowerDesigner model to be searched. The options available in this list are affected by your choice in the Look in field.
Object type	Specifies the type of model objects to be searched. The options available in this list are affected by your choice in the Model type field.
Include shortcuts	Specifies that object shortcuts that correspond to your criteria will be searched.
Name	Specifies the object name to search for. You can use the following special characters: * - none to any number of characters ? – exactly one character \* - * is a normal character \? - ? is a normal character \\ - \ is a normal character true/false - Boolean value (True is when the check box is selected in the interface) For example: W* finds "Work" and "Washington" IST finds "List" and "Specialist" 96 finds "01/11/96" and "26/08/96" ????ER finds "Writer" and "Seller" but not "inner" COLN? finds "COLN1" and "COLN2" *_emp_??? finds "Div_emp_fun" and "Div_emp_idn"
Code	Code of the object. You can type the exact code of the object or use a string expression
Case sensitive	If you select this check box, you will find objects with case matching with the Name and Code expressions

User and Date parameters

The following parameters are available on this tab

Parameter	Description
Created check box	Select this check box if you want to define creation parameters
Created by	Name of the user who created the object
Date	Creation date criteria, you can search: Before a given date After a given date Between two dates During a period of time
Modified check box	Select this check box if you want to define modification parameters
Modified by	Name of the user who made the last modification to the object
Date	Modification date criteria, you can search: Before a given date After a given date Between two dates During a period of time

Advanced parameters

When you select an object type, the Advanced tab allows you to specify advanced find parameters on each property of the selected object type. This advanced search feature also supports the use of wildcards and string expressions.

The following parameters are available on this tab: Note that if you do not select an object type, you define advanced Find parameters only on the name and code properties. These properties being common to all types of objects.

Find criteria	Description
U column (U for Used)	When selected, implies that the property will be taken into account during the Find process
Expression	Allows you to define a string expression that will become a find criteria on the selected property

Selected property with no expression defined
If you select the Used check box for a property without any expression, it is equivalent to a null value, the find process will consequently look for objects which selected property is null.